A BUILDING BUILT WITH SACRIFICE

2 SAMUEL 24; 1 CHRONICLES 21

2 Sam. 24:24 [NIV]. But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

American Collegiate Dictionary: sacrifice– “the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.”

1. David’s sin (in old age after great conquest–1 Chr. 20)

2. Israel’s suffering (plague for David’s pride)

3. Prophet’s solution (sacrifice for sin)

4. Altar’s sacrifice (absolute surrender on the altar)

5. Lord’s satisfaction (peace by the blood)

      Keil and Delitzsch explained, “The true kernel of David's sin was to be found, no doubt, in self-exaltation, inasmuch as he sought for the strength and glory of his kingdom in the number of the people and their readiness for war. This sin was punished. ‘Because David was about to boast proudly and to glory in the number of his people, God determined to punish him by reducing their number either by famine, war, or pestilence’ (Seb. Schmidt).”

      Matthew Henry wrote, “The pride of David's heart, was his sin in numbering of the people. He thought thereby to appear the more formidable, trusting in an arm of flesh more than he should have done, and though he had written so much of trusting in God only.”

•         Sin can only be atoned by sacrifice.

•         Second-hand (second-rate) offerings cannot be accepted as sacrifices.

•         Sacrifice captures the attention of the Lord who sees.

•         Someone cannot substitute for the sacrifice another must make.

•         Serious situations require valuable sacrifices.

•         Suffering continues if a sacrifice is not offered.

•         Sacrifices without the participation of faith do not please God.

•         Service through sacrifice is the duty of those who lead as well.

•         Spirit of brokenness must accompany a sacrifice.

•         Sacrifice to the Lord demands the very best offering.

•         Substance used to sacrifice to the Lord comes from God.

•         Spending for a sacrifice recognizes God as source.

•         Surrender to the Lord precedes sacrifices for the Lord.

•         Suffering takes place when a sacrifice is made.

•         Sacrifice of the peace offering (acceptance) followed the sacrifice of the sin offering (atonement).

•         Sacrifice to the Lord on the altar means God is worthy of worship.

•         Surrender in sacrifice means that nothing is withheld from God (God consumed the sacrifice).

•         Sacrifice on the cross averted the judgment of God.

•         Sacrifice of Christ surpasses all other sacrifices.

•         Significant sacrifices take place at significant places.

      Araunah lived in Jebus, a Canaanite city on Mount Zion (Jos. 15:8), called Jerusalem (Jud. 19:10) which King David took (2 Sam. 5:5-9; 1 Chr. 11:4) and called the city of David. The city set as a high fortress with valleys on three sides. Joshua defeated the king of the Jebusites (Jos. 10:1), but Israel did not entirely drive out the Jebusites until David. After God answered by fire on the altar, David chose the threshing floor purchased from Araunah as the site of the temple built for the Lord (1 Chr. 22:1; 2 Chr. 3:1), moving the altar from Gibeon (1 Chr. 21:28-29). The threshing floor purchased by David set on Mount Moriah, the spot of the sacrifice of Isaac (Jos., Ant. 7, 13, 4– “Now it happened that Abraham came and offered his son Isaac for a burnt-offering at that very place. . . .”).

2 Chr. 3:1 [ESV]. Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

  I. David did not save the high cost of sacrifice and spend the gold on his own cause (1 Chr. 29:3).

Hag. 1:4 [NIV]. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

 II. David did not substitute the high cost of others’ sacrifice for the high cost of his own sacrifice.

2 Cor. 8:7 [NIV]. But just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us--see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

III. David did not suggest that the high cost of the Lord’s sacrifice freed him from any cost.

Ps. 116:12-14 [NIV]. How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

      Charles H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, 27 March) wrote, “We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who are far from being perfect, must not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head be crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon the dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of his own blood to win the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in silver slippers? No, our Master’s experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of God must not, would not, escape it if he might.”

•         The sacrifice of a missionary who goes does not free from sacrifice those who stay behind.

•         The sacrifice of those who give tithes and offerings does not free those who withhold from their responsibilities to God.

      David would not rob Araunah to pay God. Man should not rob God to pay Araunah.

      Franklin D. Roosevelt, 'A Call for Sacrifice', 28 April, 1942:

“All of us are used to spending money for things that we want, things, however, which are not absolutely essential. We will all have to forgo that kind of spending. Because we must put every dime and every dollar we can possibly spare out of our earnings into war bonds and stamps. Because the demands of the war effort require the rationing of goods of which there is not enough to go around. Because the stopping of purchases of nonessentials will release thousands of workers who are needed in the war effort.”

“As I told the Congress yesterday, ‘sacrifice’ is not exactly the proper word with which to describe this program of self-denial. When, at the end of this great struggle, we shall have saved our free way of life, we shall have made no ‘sacrifice.’”

 IV. David did not stop the high cost of losing sheep until he put a lamb on the altar of sacrifice (shepherd for the sheep).

Is. 53:6 [ESV]. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

      Matthew Henry said, “It is for the sake of the great Sacrifice, that our forfeited lives are preserved from the destroying angel.”

      Jesus faced the sacrifice in Gethsemane.

Lk. 22:44. And being in an agony (conflict, contest; “inner tension. . . face of imminent decisions” [Kittel, I, 140]) he prayed more earnestly (“intensity” [Kittel, II, 464]; adv. “more intently” [Thayer, 200]): and his sweat was as it were great drops (“large thick drops, esp of clotted blood” [Thayer, 292]; “thick, clotted blood” [Robertson, 272]) of blood falling to the ground.

      Jesus finished the sacrifice at Calvary.

      A physician explained, “The actual cause of death by crucifixion was multifactorial and varied somewhat with each case, but the most prominent causes probably were hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Other possible contributing factors include-dehydration, stress-induced arrhythmias, and congestive heart failure with the rapid accumulation of pericardial and perhaps pleural effusions. Crucifracture (breaking the legs below the knees), if performed, led to an asphyxic death within minutes. Death by crucifixion was, in every sense of the word, excruciating (Latin, excruciatus, or "out of the cross")."

Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace
Or wash away the stain.

But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb,
Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.